There is a Yeti in the back of everyone’s mind; only the blessed are not haunted by it. ~ old sherpa saying

Monday, February 18, 2008

Mormon Bigfoot Encounter

Richelle Hawks has a very well written and insightful article on Bigfoot and Mormons:Thus Spake Sasquatch: Notes on that Mormon/Bigfoot Connection on her Medussa's Ladder column for Binnall of America. Among other things, Hawks points out the folklore from non-Mormon culture about Mormon culture. I think a lot of these ideas about Mormons -- the "magic underwear" making the sound bite rounds, for example -- are veiled expressions of a bigotry towards Mormons that go way back. (The reason why the Mormons ended up in Utah in the first place is because of the vilification they experienced; they were literally driven out. I'm not defending or apologizing for Mormons, or any religion including Christianity. I am not a Christian, and not religious. Mormonism has its own issues of the fundamental variety: (the forced polygamy, etc.) and their own history of bigotry towards, say, African Americans, sexism, that, while in the minority, seem to loom large in people's minds. )

Hawks relates a Bigfoot encounter in 1835 with Mormon David W. Patten. A point of contention, Hawks points out, is that the Bigfoot spoke to Patten. Is it possible Patten described it this way, but the communication was telepathic? Another possibility is that this creature was an angel/fairy. Angels in various guises figure in a big way in Mormon tradition. And accounts of telepathic communications -- ongoing, over time as well-- exist.